@liam Your Welcome...
As pipeline mentioned, the flatter a certain cabinet is, the better chance of getting a wider range of sounds without the colouring effects that can make you tweak for hours.
I do the same as Pipeline, I find a generic combo and start from there, but if there is a lot of coloration in the cab you are using, then the harder it will be to get the TONE you are after.
As mentioned, people are comparing the digital products to the realistic sound of a particular amp or amp cab combo. Thus the creators of such devices have strived to do just that, but really, if you get close enough, who really cares.
If the feel and sound that you get you are happy with, then that is the goal. Who cares about comparison and such to the real thing, want the real thing then get that particular amp if you use it ALL the time, if not, then the digital creation is the next best thing.
This coming from a guy who loves the sound of tube amps, but the versatility and sound you can get from software or digitally created hardware is pretty cool.
Thus why I bit the bullet and bought a bias rack, the sound of the software blew me away. If you know the sound you are going after, then you can create it in the software, but yes it needs some know how and tweaking.
The people who go back to analog, either are fed up with tweaking, or just do not know what they are doing to get a good sound, or they simply gravitate to the sound of real tubes and the feel of a real amp, this has happened a lot.
I personally I go back and forth, but after the bias software demo, I want that tone for my live sound as well, because really in the digital world you can get any sound you want, but on stage, this is where it gets tricky.
I have heard a lot of digital products sound horrible live, and a lot sound to good through a PA with no cab on stage.
Couple of weeks back I mixed a few bands, one guitar player had a Kemper, and I have never heard it in the real world let alone live on stage. I have to say, I was very impressed. I had a younger guy that I did mixing for a band, and he had a vox digital amp with e Boss digital floor board. Well take your pick here...lol Straight from the amp or from the floorboard. I cannot remember exactly the amp or peddle he had, but it was NOT in the expensive range, but this 17 year old kid, put me and my other band mate to shame...lol
His sound was not the greatest, so had to do some major eqing, and his patches were NOT the same levels, so it was a task. But overall, it sounded decent in the mix and was simple to do.
Need to know how to dial out the harshness, or cheat a little if you know what you are doing. My hearing is still pretty good, so when I connected my 11R to a powered speaker, I was not impressed, until I did some tweaking with mics and placement and the sound is HUGE. I also added a Behringer Mic2200 tube preamp into the live rack and into the studio rack, and between the slight tube warmth and the EQ on the Behringer, the live and studio sound was that much better. So imagine with a really good tube preamp with the digital racks...
I usually run my Line 6 XT live into my tube amp that I like. My first patch is a clean patch with just some eq to fatten up the sound, and use the amp for the cleans, works well sounds great.
Lots of people have whined about high gain tones from these devices and try to compare, but the clean tones from the devices are lacking quite a bit, and I find this area is a challenge to make sound like a really nice tube clean sound, the high gain stuff no problem at all.
